Would this substrate work?

[GodFan]

Alright would a quarter bag of ecocomplete, a full bag of flora-max, a handful of crushed coral, and a bunch of regular gravel work well for plants? I plan to have pothos vine, some kind of Ivey, lucky bamboo, and umbrella palm growing in the tank. (All will have leaves above the water)
So will this provide enough nutrition? It is gonna be a walstad style tank if that makes any difference.
Let me know if this will be nutritious enough!

Thanks and God bless!

 

[brennae]

Howdy, I would leave out the coral. It will change the hardness of your water. Do you have the potting soil?

 

[GodFan]

Ok I thought the coral was necessary for calcium. No I dont have soil. I dont want the tea colored water anyway.

 

[Rivercats]

The Walstad method is about using dirt. You can use Miracle Grow Organic Potting soil and it doesn't leach much in the way of tannins.

 

[aqua_chem]

Most people have all the calcium they need in their water. True calcium deficiencies are pretty rare.



You might experience some tannin release initially with a dirted tank (especially with soils with a high organic content), but it will eventually level out, especially with a good cap.

 

[GodFan]

I decided to try to make due with what I had on hand. The floramax and ecocomplete mixture made it to about 2 or 3 inches deep and my gravel added another inch. Hopefully this will work. I really didnt want to risk the dirt. Just dont have the time and money to put into a risk.

 

[jetajockey]

A light sprinkling of crushed coral wouldn't be a terrible idea just don't go crazy with it. Just note that none of the things you listed have any significant source of available nutrients so some sort of supplementation may be in order for best results.